Commissioner Bud Selig and the Players' Union announced on Thursday an expansion of baseball's drug testing policies to include in-season tests for human growth hormone.
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

The current generation also continues to grapple with the specter of performance-enhancing drugs. Melky Cabrera received a 50-game suspension last season in the midst of an excellent campaign. Ryan Braun, the 2011 National League MVP, successfully appealed his own failed test the previous spring. Around the game, the players, led by union chief Michael Weiner, have repeatedly expressed a willingness to improve the existing drug policy.

"Players want a program that is tough, scientifically accurate, backed by the latest, proven scientific methods," Weiner said in a statement. "I believe these changes firmly support the players’ desires while protecting their legal rights."

In years past, the union had been reticent about allowing for blood testing during the season. MLB first instituted testing with penalties attached in 2004. Amphetamines, once ubiquitous in clubhouses, were banned in 2006. Now there are enhanced protections against HGH usage.

HGH testing remains a contentious issue in the National Football League. At a hearing last month, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused the NFL players’ union of trying to back out of HGH testing.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said at the time that the union is not backing out of anything but was looking to resolve scientific issues surrounding the tests. HGH testing is part of the 10-year labor agreement reached in 2011, but protocols must be agreed to by both sides.

At the time of last month’s congressional hearing, NFL senior vice president Adolpho Birch called the union’s insistence on a population study, to determine whether current HGH tests are appropriate, a delay tactic that threatened that league’s leadership in drug testing matters.

"Major League Baseball and the players’ union have moved a long way from the inadequate policies that were in place when Congress first addressed ballplayers’ use of steroids," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

A day after an awkward moment for the game, when some of the best players in history were considered unworthy of the Hall of Fame, baseball could point to an improved stance on drugs.

"This is a remarkable day if you think about where we were 10, 12, 15 years ago, and where we are today," Selig said. "Nobody could have dreamed it."